george grombacher 0:02
Linsey to start with give me two truths and a lie, please. All righty, here they go. I have been to all 50 states.

Lindsey Curry 0:12
I received a personal compliment by LeBron James himself. I have been to Times Square in New York City on New Year’s Eve to watch the ball drop.

george grombacher 0:23
Those are good ones. You’ve been to all 50 states. The king gave you a compliment. And you’ve been to Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Awesome. Challenging. I don’t think you’ve met all 50 states. Lindsay, you are correct. Yes. Yes. All right. Tell me about the Lebron story. All right. So I am from Northeast Ohio. And if you are at all familiar with Lebron James, you know that he is from Akron, which is only about 45 minutes away from here. And I’m actually only a year behind him in school. So when his senior year when he was just starting to make a splash for himself, and everyone was starting to really know who LeBron James was. And where is even Akron, Ohio.

Lindsey Curry 1:09
My high school was actually in a soccer tournament playoff game against his high school. And I was the right fullback for our soccer team at the time. And that if you’re not familiar with soccer, right, fullback is actually a defensive position. And unfortunately, we lost the game so we did not move forward on with playoffs are anything however, as our team was loading up the buses, and everyone’s crowding around LeBron James down the fence line and everything because like I said, he was just making a name for himself getting on that Wheaties box. He actually called out Hey, number five, which was my uniform number. And he said, great game. And I was like,

why?

george grombacher 1:54
And now you have a tattoo of that.

Lindsey Curry 1:56
Exactly.

george grombacher 1:59
Hey, number five. Great game. That’s awesome. Right there. Nice. Yeah. Can you even imagine being LeBron James, the man has been like, famous and followed around for a long time now. And he’s handled himself wonderfully. What a wonderful ambassador for everything, but particularly Northeast Ohio.

Lindsey Curry 2:21
Yeah, so no, it’s been cool to kind of be not personally part of his story, but to kind of be like, on the outskirts watching in as a, you know, someone from the area and everything. Totally,

george grombacher 2:31
totally. He’s moved on, obviously, to do y’all still love him? Do you still call him your own, you know,

Lindsey Curry 2:41
as an athlete, I can understand where he comes from, you know, wanting to pursue and further that career and understand, I think sometimes, the first approach wasn’t probably the best approach that he took. When he took his talents to South Beach. You know, I might have handled it slightly differently. However, as like I said, as an athlete, I can understand where he was coming from and wanting to just achieve that next ladder, you know, and keep climbing it. Right,

george grombacher 3:13
right. different seasons of life and everything else. So yeah. All right. Do you still play soccer? Lindsey? No,

Lindsey Curry 3:20
I, you know, I gave that up a couple of years ago, actually, I played on a rec league with some friends and everything. And then, you know, you get to a point where you wake up, you’re like, the knees just don’t really like this anymore. And yeah, so

george grombacher 3:34
spirit is willing, but the body is not playing along. Yeah.

Lindsey Curry 3:38
I wouldn’t go outside with my kids every once in a while. But other than that, no, I’m, I’m a I’m an audience member now. Yeah.

george grombacher 3:45
I get it. So if you’ve not been to all 50 states, how many of you been to do you know?

Lindsey Curry 3:51
I’m at 35. Okay. Yeah, that’s awesome. Yeah, so I used to travel for one of my previous positions and kind of took me all over the US. So I do have a few big ones still out there like Hawaii and Alaska. They were a little bit more attainable before I started having kids. It’s still a goal. And I think it still could definitely be doable. I do have a husband, thankfully that likes to travel as well. But thankfully, that other job that I had mentioned my previous role, I got to travel a lot with it. And so it took me to a lot of states that you normally wouldn’t get to. So, a lot of those, like, middle of the country states that have a lot of cornfields in them.

george grombacher 4:28
Right. That are wonderful in their own right. saralee tourist attractions Correct. totally get it. All right. Well, that is good stuff. Lindsey curry. What is top of mind for you right now.

Lindsey Curry 4:42
Top of mind for me, actually. Yesterday afternoon, I was in a meeting with someone and we were chatting about some things and the concept of instant gratification and how it has been so ingrained into our daily lives that we You don’t even realize how much instant gratification we have in our life every single day.

george grombacher 5:09
It’s it’s, it’s amazing. The convenience, the ability to get what I want right now, like immediately. Yeah,

Lindsey Curry 5:17
I mean, between, you know, we’ll say, Amazon, you know, we’ve now no longer have to go to the store to purchase something, all we have to do is pull up our laptop or our phones, and click a button. And Amazon has even made it to the fact where you don’t even have to add it to your cart and go through the checkout process. You can go by now they have even shortened, condensed their process of instant gratification. And you know, in regards to that, than to you only have to wait maybe a day or two for shipping. Amazon has ruined shipping times for people,

george grombacher 5:51
no doubt, and the ability to return things for free. So it’s even less friction, I don’t even need to worry about it. If I don’t like it, then I could send it back. So I might as well just buy it. Yup. And we’ve invited robots into our homes, at least some of us have myself included, I can just say, hey, Google, or Amazon or whatever, get me this. And I don’t even need to use my fingers.

Lindsey Curry 6:11
No, I mean, you don’t even have to turn on your lights if you don’t want to walk in into your room. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and the saralee

george grombacher 6:18
translate into success with without money, though, necessarily, does it? No.

Lindsey Curry 6:22
And so that is like the thing where it’s so hard to get that concept out of your everyday life when you’re so used to it, and then have to delay that gratification, if you’re trying to pay something off. Like if you have debt, or if you’re trying to save for something like your emergency fund or just trying to save because you don’t want to go into debt, it becomes really, really hard. Because it has become so natural to have what you want when you need it right then and there.

george grombacher 6:56
It’s such a tricky thing, we have been conditioned to get what I want now, immediately, and I’ve got the ability to do it. And I’ve got, I’ve got the money to do it. Even though I might not have the money to do it, everybody’s got a credit card. So even if I’m out of cash, I could still keep buying. So I don’t want to I don’t want to delay, I don’t want to take a step back, I don’t want to pay debt off to be able to save money. It’s just this conditioning, and it’s uncomfortable then and you know, white.

Lindsey Curry 7:36
And it really plays into the concept of Keeping Up with the Joneses. Because that was something that you you know, back in, you know, previous years was for sure, still a concept. And people still fell into that concept of you know, well, I have to have this to, you know, keep this type of cloud or whatever. But it did take a little bit longer because you didn’t have instant access to something you know. So you either were trying to save for it, or you just didn’t have the means to go and purchase it right away. Because you couldn’t get to said location or whatever it is we’re now you can jump on your phone and more than likely be able to find access to somehow someway something that you want to keep up with the Joneses.

george grombacher 8:21
And it’s worse now to mean keeping up with the Joneses. That’s literally an idea that my neighbors are the Joneses. And so I see them coming in and out of their nice house with their nice cars and whatever the packages they’re bringing inside. Today I’m keeping up with the Kardashians and richest people on planet Earth and I get to look into their lives the same as they used to look at my neighbors. Exactly.

Lindsey Curry 8:43
So the idea of clout.

george grombacher 8:48
I mean, it’s it’s instant gratification. So the friction for me to over consume. And that’s a whole nother conversation is consumerism in general, but over consuming. And then the ability to end the desire of this idea of clout, and ego. These are also not conducive necessarily to good financial decision making.

Lindsey Curry 9:12
Know and it can all be turned back to that. Like I said that instant gratification because you feel like you need it. So then you want it. So then you go get it where if you would just take a pause and say, Do I really need it more than I want it? And if I still really want it? Could I delay it three days and maybe you know, have a conversation with myself have a way to devise a plan to possibly be more strategic of how to achieve it. And, you know, be better at how I come about it. We take that out with that instant gratification right away because I have the ability to some we have the ability to go and get it and so someone, you know, might may just go ahead and purchase it without even thinking of those ramifications because it’s the instant I want it right now. And I can get it right now.

george grombacher 10:09
And by someone who may me and you and everybody else,

Lindsey Curry 10:12
everyone, yeah,

george grombacher 10:14
we’re all susceptible to these things. Is

Lindsey Curry 10:16
that human nature?

george grombacher 10:19
And it a couple of things. I think everything you said makes a ton of sense to me the feeling piece. That’s, that’s, that’s why I do things. I’d like to think that I’m a rational being and sometimes I am. But, and I am. But I think that what you said is, I feel like I want this thing, and then it turns into I need it. And not only do I need it, I need it right now. And I have the ability to do that. But what if I could take that pause? What if I waited three days? Do I still feel like I need it. And then maybe if I do still, then I can actually make a plan instead of just buying it.

Lindsey Curry 10:58
And one of the things that I talk a lot about with people that I work with, and we talk a lot within our office about is money is emotional, whether you have it or you don’t have it, whether it’s a good emotion or a bad emotion, money is emotional. And a lot of the times we work off of that emotion, without thinking through what is the plan? And how do I work the plan?

george grombacher 11:25
I’m supposed to have a plan with money. Lindsay, wait a minute.

Lindsey Curry 11:31
We hope so.

george grombacher 11:33
Money is it’s such a powerful thing. But it’s just it’s just paper or whatever it’s made of some kind of cloth and material. And it’s not good or bad. Yeah, that’s the that’s the well adjusted version of what I think about money. But you’re right, it is the most emotionally charged thing that that I come into contact with probably. Yeah.

Lindsey Curry 11:54
And like I said, even if you don’t want it to be emotional for yourself, or for your family, or whomever it is, you know, money good or bad, can be emotional.

george grombacher 12:07
And so when we’re making plans, I need to be tracking my spending my cash flow, I need to be budgeting I need to be thinking about what the priorities are. These are all less fun than buying something on Amazon and having a shop tomorrow, Lindsey?

Lindsey Curry 12:27
Oh, yeah, exactly. Because that tracking, it takes time that waiting for the bank account to get to the price or the Dollar Point to have said item takes some time, especially if it’s a large dollar item number, where if I just go and charge it right here right now I can have it two days later, thanks to Amazon, you know, going back to that instant gratification over and over again.

george grombacher 12:51
Do you find that once people sort of become conscious of this, because I think so much of this is just unconscious. And if I’m just have been doing this operating kind of emotionally on my wants on immediate gratification, that once I start to make that shift, even if it’s in one part of my life, that that will benefit me and maybe all of my spending or how I’m interacting with money? It

Lindsey Curry 13:18
definitely you have to get there. Um, you know, I talk a lot about how, you know, as a fitness coach, someone might tell you go home, take everything out of your fridge besides kale and carrots, what’s the expectation of you, for three days from now you’re going to be going through probably Taco Bell or something like that, right? So you have to make some realistic changes to get there. But you have to want that mindset to change. And a lot of the times again, we talk a lot with folks that we work with is, you know, it’s the 8020 rule, right? 20% is knowledge. 80% is behavior. And so really understanding your behavior, and seeing where those behavior changes come into play, and how you want to make those behavior changes happen. That really, really, once you have that kind of like light bulb or like aha moment, that’s where you can start to say, here’s my plan moving forward, here’s where I needed to delay that gratification, because I want to make a bigger impact on XYZ or put dollars differently here. And that’s really where we kind of see like the pavement meets the road type situations.

george grombacher 14:32
I like that a lot. 20% knowledge 80% behavior. That’s definitely true. So it’s a function of paying attention and saying, oh, you know what, why is it that I’m spending? Is there something going on when I’m making purchases? Is that what you’re talking about? And then more? Yeah,

Lindsey Curry 14:55
so a lot of the times when I’m working with folks, I tell them The first couple of months especially that you’re budgeting it’s do you remember like back in school, the who, what wise ones? And where’s the teachers always talk to us about, you know, once you really start paying attention to how you’re spending your money, you start to see where you’re spending your money, when you’re spending your money, why are you upset is something come up that you weren’t planning on? Or did something that you just didn’t account for show up, you know, and you kind of work through those who aren’t wise, whens? And wheres, and it really starts to become an eye opener for you to be like, Oh, I spend money when I’m happy. I spend money when I’m sad. I spend money when I go past this certain store, I spend money at the beginning of the month, because my paycheck comes in, I don’t spend as much money at the end of the month, because I’m afraid I don’t have enough money left in my bank account. You know. So really understanding those behaviors, like I said, of answering those who what lies and where’s questions can help start to make some of those behavior changes for you.

george grombacher 16:00
So you’re saying that my teachers were right.

Lindsey Curry 16:04
And they were. But they weren’t right about always having your calculator in your back pocket?

george grombacher 16:13
It’s a good point, they probably could not have seen that coming. My high school elementary school teacher probably didn’t know about iPhones. No, it was a really long time ago. What’s next lens? You gotta tell me my parents were right to? You know, that’s a bridge too far, I think. Who knows?

Lindsey Curry 16:31
They definitely have some great insight and some wisdom for us. Right?

george grombacher 16:35
For sure. Yeah, I mean, I’m 45. I’ve got three kids. And my mom was writer almost every day, and it just takes me a long time to realize it. I should I should probably tell her that. Do it. Anyway, I totally I totally shut us down. After we’re done here. I’m going to call her and say thank you. So it’s, it’s a tricky thing. Speaking of parents, because I’m sure that my mom told me lots of good financial advice and stuff like that. But if I’m not ready to hear it, I’m probably not ready to be making these kinds of decisions. Do people need to be ready to make these kinds of decisions? They do.

Lindsey Curry 17:13
Like I said, it’s 2080, right? I can give you all the knowledge, I can give you all of the plans, and, you know, lay everything out for you and give you that strategy. But that 80% behavior has to be there. And maybe you start off with not the full 80. But if you have the majority of the behavior there, at least the mindset, I guess I should say, you can learn to grow to that 80%.

george grombacher 17:45
I love it. That makes a ton of sense. Lindsey, we’re ready for that difference making tip? What do you have for

Lindsey Curry 17:50
us? Alright, so to kind of go along with that instant gratification. The tip is save a little until you can save a lot?

george grombacher 18:02
Well, I think that is great stuff, it definitely gets Come on. Save a little tell you can save a lot from small things, Lindsey?

Lindsey Curry 18:12
Exactly. Because maybe that small thing right here right now is a little, you just think it’s a little thing. But eventually, those little things can add up over time, you know, if you just keep stockpiling them. And again, going back to that behavior, you learned that you could save a few things, or a few small things here or there or a small dollar amount here or there. And eventually you learn to grow to save more. And it just becomes a natural progression. And a lot of times, people sometimes get hung up on feeling like they can’t make a big impact unless they have a large dollar or a large amount of something to put aside towards an expense or towards a savings or towards the debt. And so they get discouraged. But if you like I tell folks all the time, $5 just $5 more.

george grombacher 19:03
Yeah, yeah, I think that that’s great, easy to become. To feel like, yeah, that little bit just doesn’t matter. It’s like I’m not going to start saving because I just don’t have enough to start putting away but everything you’re talking about makes a ton of sense. Well, Lindsey, thank you so much for coming out. Where can people learn more about you? How can they engage with you? Sure.

Lindsey Curry 19:23
So they can go to our website at Whitaker, my I’m sorry, would occur wealth.com. Actually, can I go back and start that over just so I get the name correct? Sure, they can find us at our website on woodworker wealth.com on our financial coach for our office. So there is a tab for financial coaches that you can actually click on my information. If you want to schedule an appointment with me, I’d be happy to chat with you. You can take through a look through our website. We also have a Facebook page and a LinkedIn page as well that you can always see what type of information we’re putting out and go ahead and get in touch with us. It’s fun, they’re also

george grombacher 20:00
excellent. If you enjoyed this as much as I did show Lindsay your appreciation, share today’s show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas go to Whittaker wealth.com. Check out all the great resources, click on the financial coaching tab and you will be taken directly to Lindsay and get in touch and start. Start taking those important steps, no matter how big or how small towards the financial future that you really want. Thanks, Lindsay.

Lindsey Curry 20:30
Thank you so much. It’s great to be with you. Yeah, great

george grombacher 20:33
talking with you. Finally, a friendly reminder, never going to be anybody more interested in your financial success than you are. So act accordingly.